《Twenty thousand leagues under the sea》海底两万里

CHAPTER 1 A Runaway Reef 第1章 飞走的暗礁(1)

一、原文赏析：

THE YEAR 1866 was marked by a bizarre development, an unexplained and downright inexplicable phenomenon that surely no one has forgotten.

Without getting into those rumors that upset civilians in the seaports and deranged the public mind even far inland, it must be said that professional seamen were especially alarmed.

Traders, shipowners, captains of vessels, skippers, and master mariners from Europe and America, naval officers from every country, and at their heels the various national governments on these two continents, were all extremely disturbed by the business.

In essence, over a period of time several ships had encountered "an enormous thing" at sea, a long spindle shaped object, sometimes giving off a phosphorescent glow, infinitely bigger and faster than any whale.

The relevant data on this apparition, as recorded in various logbooks, agreed pretty closely as to the structure of the object or creature in question, its unprecedented speed of movement, its startling locomotive power, and the unique vitality with which it seemed to be gifted.

二、中文译文：

人们一定还记得1866年海上发生的一件离奇的、神秘的、无法解释的怪事。

且不说当时轰动沿海居民和世界舆论的各种传闻，

这里只说一般航海人员特别激动的心情。

欧美的进出口商人、船长和船主、各国的海军官佐以及这两大洲的各国政府都非常注意这件事。

这事大体是这样：不久以前，好些大船在海上碰见了一个"庞然大物"，一个很长的物体，形状很像纺锤，有时发出磷光，它的体积比鲸鱼大得多，行动起来也比鲸鱼快得多。

关于这个东西的出现，许多航海日志所记下的事实，大致是相同的。如果这东西是鲸鱼类动物，那么它的体积：是大大超过了生物学家曾经加以分类的鲸鱼。

三、 重点词汇：

1、 inexplicable [,inik‘splikəbl] adj. 费解的；无法说明的；不能解释的

例：At the same time, even a horrifying explanation may be less frightening than inexplicable death.

同时，即使死亡原因的惊人解释也比无来由的死较少令人恐惧。

2、 relevant [‘reləvənt] adj. 有关的；中肯的；有重大作用的

例：Please collect the relevant data. 请收集有关的资料。

3、upset [ʌp‘set, ‘ʌpset] vt. 使心烦；颠覆；扰乱

vi. 翻倒

adj. 心烦的；混乱的；弄翻的

n. 混乱；翻倒

例：I‘ve upset a cup of coffee on my shirt. 我打翻了一杯咖啡，洒在我的衬衫上了。

4、unprecedented [,ʌn‘presidəntid] adj. 空前的；无前例的

例：The rate of growth was unprecedented . 这个成长率是前所未有的。

5、 enormous [i‘nɔ:məs] adj. 庞大的，巨大的；凶暴的，极恶的

例：He gazed up at the enormous face . 他抬头凝视着那张庞大的脸。

6、 apparition [,æpə‘riʃən] n. 幽灵；幻影；鬼怪；离奇出现的东西

例： Marius on that barricade after the octogenarian was the vision of the young revolution after the apparition of the old.

马吕斯继那八十岁老人之后，屹立在街垒上，这是继老革命而起的新生革命的形象。

7、 locomotive [‘ləukə,məutiv, ]

adj. 火车头的；运动的；移动的

n. 机车；火车头

例： Lead locomotive car body/Bogie running test and problem part failing model analysis.

主导机车车体和转向架运行测试和零件失效模式分析；

8、 extremely [ik‘stri:mli] adv. 非常，极其；极端地

例：She speaks French extremely well. 她的法语讲得非常好。